[115.03] How can the James Webb Space Telescope measure First Light, Reionization, and Galaxy Assembly?

In this poster, we first briefly review the capabilities of
the 6.5 meter James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) --- slated
for launch to a halo L2 orbit in 2013 --- including the
considerations to make this an optimized infrared telescope
that can deploy automatically in space.

The main science themes of JWST are to measure First Light,
Reionization, Galaxy Assembly, as well as the process of
Star-formation and the origin of Planetary Systems. In this
poster, we will summarize how the JWST will go about
measuring First Light, Reionization, and Galaxy Assembly,
building on lessons learned from the Hubble Space Telescope.

We will show what more nearby galaxies observed in their
restframe UV--optical light will likely look like to JWST at
very high redshifts, and discuss quantitative methods to
determine structural parameters of faint galaxies in deep
JWST images as a function of cosmic epoch. We will also
discuss to what extent JWST's short wavelength performance
--- which needed to be relaxed in the latest definition of
the telescope --- may affect JWST's ability to accurately
determine faint galaxy parameters.

Space permitting, we will also discuss if ultradeep JWST
images will run into the natural confusion limit, and what
new generations of algorithms may be needed to automatically
detect objects in very crowded, ultradeep JWST fields.

This work was funded by NASA JWST Interdisciplinary
Scientist grant NAG5-12460 from GSFC.

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